British Museum Library.

Date:
1912
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: British Museum Library. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    ences except on Saturday afternoons. Further, during the winter months no books unless they are in the circular room are available, owing to the absence of artificial light in the store- rooms. The commonly-accepted explanation is that artificial light is disallowed on the grounds of possible danger from fire. In criticism of this it may be remarked that a portion of the store-rooms have ' been lighted artificially for the benefit of the assistants, and that the presence of two large gas engines under the building suggests the possibility of a far greater danger than could be incurred by a thoroughly well-protected system of illumination. It seems difficult to believe that these undoubted dis- advantages could not be removed by arrange- ment. Absence op a Periodical Room. There is abundant room for criticism in con- nection with the periodicals and newspapers. The purchase of foreign newspapers, for in- stance, has become a matter of routine. Papers that were at one time influential and repre- sentative of at least a considerable section of a foreign country are still taken in, even though their standing may have changed and they may have become of no account. New papers of importance are in many cases not purchased. Thus, while the authorities sub- scribe to New York papers which are thoroughly competent in putting forward the non-party and the Republican points of view, the Demo- cratic organs are ignored, and the chief literary paper of New York is not to be found in the Museum. The same criticism holds good of periodicals. In connection with periodicals the provision of a Periodical Room is a very urgent want. It seems possible that when the new buildings are completed such a room may be- come available. At Washington a large room is set aside for this purpose, and the latest numbers of some four thousand periodicals are exposed and can be consulted at once by any reader. The storing of provincial newspapers at Hendon is another serious disability under which the Library suffers, and it seems that the cumbrous machinery that has to be set in motion before these newspapers can be con- sulted might be very materially simplified. Discomforts of the Reading Room. to them; it is usually a considerable time before the now reader discovers where the biblio- graphies are placed, and there is nothing to indicate to him the bibliography that is the key to all the rest. To reorganise the Reading Room is a task that cannot lightly be under- taken, but it may be suggested that boflightjy change as the supplementing of the numbers on the shelves by tablets with such titles as -Classics,” “ Theology,” &c would be a wel- come reform. Much could be done alsoby pub- lishing a small guide to the Reading Room. The lectures delivered on the use of the Libraiy from time to time by Mr. R. A. Peddie, useful as they undoubtedly are—incidentally it may be remarked that they are not due to enter- prise on the part of the British Museum—are a move in the right direction, but quite insuffi- cient to take tbe place of tbe provision which the authorities might fairly be expected to make. An improvement, which would add to , the convenience of readers by saving the time necessary to get books from tbe store, and obviate a considerable amount of the perambula- tion that at present occurs, would be the instal- lation of a number of telewriters on the cata- logue desk. Dr. Garnett put forward the sug- gestion several years ago, but, though a useful system of pneumatic tubes lias been installed for sending readers’ requests for books to the various departments of the book store, this quicker method has not been taken up. He also proposed the establishment of a photographic department in connection with the Library and the Museum generally. In place of this a charge has been made to photographers who wish to reproduce any specimens of the Museum collec- tion. Despite the renovation of the Reading Room, the ventilation still remains inadequate. In the old days the condition of affairs was so notorious that when the cleaning took place a few years ago old readers sedulously put about reports to the effect that when the scaffolding 1 was put up for the purposes of cleaning the ventilating fan was discovered broken ; another theory proposed was that the ventilation shaft was found closed and locked, and it had been determined by inquiry that the key had been I lost for forty years. The fact remains, as can be seen from the drowsiness that overtakes the readers, that the ventilation of the room leaves In no section of the Museum is the bad effect of tradition felt so conspicuously as in the Reading Room. The new reader, who finds him- self there for the first time, is utterly bewildered, and even the more experienced reader might not unfairly complain that he is left without the help that he has a right to expect. The catalogue itself is easily found, but there is little to suggest the position where the special catalogue of the books in the Reading Room i to be consulted. Works of reference such as Fortescue’s Subject Index, or Poole’s Index to Periodical Literature, are not easily traced by the inexperienced, nor is their attention directed much to be desired. Other instances of unsatisfactory manage- ment might be quoted. As regards the binding ; department, for instance, to which is allocated a very large share of the annual grant, it would be interesting to know whether the contract, which has been in the same hands for many years, is> or ever has been, put up for tender. But side by side with the criticisms that have been made, it should be remembered that the Museum administration is markedly superior to that of any of the large libraries in Europe.
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